Thank you all soooo much for all the humbling and sweet reviews! Points to izzy95 and MsCrazybird for getting the Wicked references in the last chapter ;)

Hope you continue to enjoy (and spread the love by reviewing :-P )!


It was dark, and silent but for the sound of sobbing. Emma was grateful that the door didn't creak when she opened it: but of course it wouldn't. Creaking doors simply were not something Regina Mills would accept in her house.

The brunette jumped as Emma put her arms around her shoulders - which itself was an accomplishment, as Regina was curled in a fetal position on her bed, body wracked with tears - but relaxed as Emma cooed comfort into her ears and left kisses across her temples and jawline.

Regina turned her tear-stained face to the blonde.

"Why are you here, Ms. Swan? You realize I'm a big girl and don't require saving, don't you?"

"I'm not here to save anyone, Regina. Only you can help or save yourself. I'm here because I can't imagine being anywhere else. I don't want to imagine being anywhere else. Unless you want me to leave. If you do, I will."

Emma took Regina's silence as disapproval, or at least indecisiveness, and, afraid of pressuring her, began disentangling their bodies so she could leave. She felt a tug at her waist. She looked down to see Regina's hand disappearing under her shirt.

"Stay," Regina whispered.

Emma smiled softly, her own tears surfacing. "I'd love to kiss you right now. If you want me to. If you don't, I - "

"Too much talking, not enough kissing," Regina murmured as she pulled Emma's face into her with one hand, the other still exploring the hot skin under her shirt. And lord, did it feel good.

Regina's full lips collided with Emma's as her tongue slipped out of her mouth to dance with the blonde's, their union becoming more heated as Emma groaned at the feeling of Regina exploring her mouth.

The brunette's hand roughly slid up to cup Emma's breast, tugging her shirt up and off with graceful desperation, an exquisite groan of her own escaping Regina's mouth as she brought her lips, tongue, and teeth down Emma's exposed neck to her collar bone, chest, abs...

Emma's head fell back as she moaned her ecstasy, fingers fumbling with Regina's pencil skirt, finally finding her fiery, soaking core, asking with her eyes if Regina wanted her to come inside. Answering by grabbing the blonde's wrist and shoving it down further, granting the younger woman fuller access to her cunt, Regina bit down on Emma's belly. The Sheriff screamed slightly, the heady combination of fucking her love and what Regina's tongue and teeth were doing to her entire body very nearly causing her to come undone...

"Emma? Emma? Hello? Emma? Earth to Emma!"

The blonde's entire body jolted forward from where she had been leaning back, dozing in her chair in the sheriff's station.

"Henry!" Her voice was strangled and strangely high-pitched, and she shifted positions uncomfortably.

"Uh, are you ok?" Henry asked, concern plastered all over his face.

"Yeah, kid, I'm uh... I'm fine. What's up?"

He looked at her as though she were not quite in her right mind. She remembered her dream - vividly - and thought he might be right.

"Uh, I just wanted to have lunch with you. They let us do that outside of school now, remember? And you... told me to come by?"

Emma shook her head roughly, trying to focus on Henry's voice and face instead of on the exquisite feeling of her fingers swirling and pumping inside his other mother's cunt...

"Emma? You in there?"

She snorted at the pun he didn't know he made. He furrowed his brow at her in a most Regina-like way. "Sure, kid. Lunch. Right. Granny's?"

Henry nodded, having being hoping she'd say that, still looking at her concernedly. He thought confidently of the texts he'd exchanged with Regina that morning.

Hi Mom. I'm going to have lunch with Emma today. Want to join?

A three minute wait.

I'm not sure Emma would welcome my presence, sweetheart. I don't want to push her too fast.

She needs to realize you've changed. Come on, please? Don't be afraid. I won't let O.P. sink.

A twelve minute wait.

Alright, Henry. I'll see you both at Granny's at lunchtime.

They walked out of the Sheriff's office hand-in-hand, Henry with a slight skip to his step. "My mom's gonna be there, too, Emma; is that ok?"

He felt her hand twitch, but to her credit, he could tell she was trying to play it cool.

"Uh, thought it was just you and me today, kid?"

Henry shrugged innocently. "You have lots of people to hang out with: your parents, Ruby, Belle, me. Everyone, really, because you're the Savior and everyone loves you. Mom..." He trailed off, sadness that was too old for him tainting his face. She sighed internally.

"Got it. You're right." A long silence. Henry waited, knowing what was on his mom's mind. "Henry, I've been meaning to ask you..." She sighed, out loud this time. "Do you know what your mom meant yesterday? About Mary Margaret's sadness hurting the only people she cares about? Because she definitely didn't mean Charming, so..."

Henry looked up at his younger mother, carefully balancing what she was ready for.

"She cares about you, Emma. Of course she does. You gave birth to me, after all."

He watched her carefully. She looked crestfallen, and his heart leapt excitedly. She would only be disappointed with that if he was right, and she shared Regina's feelings... right?

"But that's not all it is," he said, deliberately vaguely, before running off into Granny's to greet Regina.

Emma froze; blinked; swallowed; and stepped forward to play it cool and act like her son had not just rocked her world.


"Are you excited about the party for Grace tomorrow afternoon, Henry?" Regina asked as they sat down.

He nodded eagerly. "It's going to be great. We invited Hansel and Gretel, and the Lost Boys - did you know they know Neal? - and Ruby's coming with Belle - "

"Talking about the party, kid?" Ruby asked as she brought them all water, her eyes aglow at seeing the three of them out together.

"Yup! Emma said she's never ice skated before, so it should be great - "

"Or a trip to the hospital waiting to happen," Regina murmured, and Emma tossed a bunched up napkin at her. Ruby and Henry almost squeed.

Regina took advantage of Emma's attention to Henry's tales about school to stare at the blonde.

Emma took advantage of Regina's ordering to ogle at her.

Henry took advantage of their stealing glances at each other to wink at Ruby, who returned it with gusto.


"I can help you with that science project if you'd like, you know, Henry. As much as magic is about emotion, it's also about chemistry, and if you wish, I can show you how to create some reactions that will really wow your classmates and help you learn a lot."

Emma started, jolted out of her staring: which was a good thing, really, because she'd almost started to drool. "You want to teach our kid magic?"

The shutters behind Regina's eyes snapped closed. "Chemistry, Ms. Swan. For his science project. You might want to pay attention to what I'm saying instead of - " - she slipped her hands over Henry's ears - "staring down my blouse every chance you get. You might find something worthwhile about interacting with me other than my body."

She removed her hands from Henry's head and seethed in silence. Emma stammered. "Regina, please, that's not what I was - "

But Regina's eyebrows shot up, shutting down Emma's ability to lie. She had been looking. She sighed and tried again, remembering how humble Regina had been when she came to Snow's apartment yesterday, how difficult and humiliating it must have been for her. "You're an amazing woman, Regina. I didn't mean to disrespect you. I uh... I just misunderstood. I'm... I'm sorry. If you wanna teach Henry chemistry, then I'm sure he'll have the best project in the whole damn school."

"Language, Ms. Swan," Regina whispered, mollified. She said I'm an amazing woman...

Henry breathed again.

"So, kid, what's up with you and this Hansel guy? You like him or something?" Regina raised her eyebrows at where Emma's mind went immediately after locking eyes so intensely with hers, apologizing to her. She turned to Henry, however, because she was interested in his answer, too.

He stopped breathing... again. I might need some extra help learning to deal with all this extra breathing difficulty if Operation Phoenix continues to be a success... maybe Ruby can help me... werewolf and all... The sound of Emma clearing her throat brought him back to the moment.

"I, uh... I don't know... I feel different about him than I feel about the other kids. I don't know if I'm gay or whatever, like you guys, but uh... I like how he makes me feel, and I hope I make him feel good, too. We'll see." He shrugged, the ghost of a grin on his face, pleased with the bomb he had just dropped on his moms.

Emma and Regina exchanged open-mouthed glances. "Henry, what gave you the impression we're ga- "

He grinned wickedly, rising from his seat. "Gotta go." He pointed to Jefferson, who was walking past outside. "Last minute planning for tomorrow!"

He swept outside, Ruby shaking her head happily as he did. "Sneaky bastard," she whispered, having heard everything and loving his style.


"Are you out to him?" Emma asked, one eyebrow cocked.

"I don't have a preference as to the gender of my lovers, Ms. Swan. Henry is aware of this: I raised him without the petty prejudices and binaries that his book so willingly espouses."

Emma's cunt caught fire: she'd never heard Regina say the word 'sex' before, and it captivated her powerfully.

She nodded, trying desperately to play it cool. When had she and Regina ever had an actual conversation? And now that they were, it was about their sexuality, of all things? Life had become far too weird since she came to Storybrooke.

"Cool. I'm pan, too." Shit, what the hell do I say now? She forced herself to press on awkwardly. "I'm uh... I'm glad you raised him like you did, Regina. Lots of kids are homophobic shits." Her eyes disappeared somewhere far away and long ago. Regina tilted her head as she watched her. Her heart ached agonizingly.

"I'm sorry you had to experience... whatever you did that taught you that about some children. I'm afraid I'm responsible for - "

"You didn't put me in the wardrobe, Regina," Emma interrupted softly.

"But I was the reason they carved one in the first place," she whispered, her hands shifting to the center of the table between them.

Emma stared at her hands. So gorgeous. She reached out halfway to touch them, to lace her fingers through hers, to take some of her grief from her, if Regina wanted her to, would let her.

Her phone rang obnoxiously, causing both women - whose hearts were racing far faster than either of them would ever admit - to jump sky high. Emma answered it rapidly, offering an apologetic grimace to Regina, who instantly had retracted her hands, sitting up ramrod straight.

"Yeah?" At least she's irritated, Regina thought frustratedly. And hopefully.

"Yeah, be there in five." She snapped her phone shut and gave Regina a small smile. "Sorry, it was Archie. Pongo's run off and he needs help finding him."

"Surely there's the animal shelter for that?" Regina was back in Mayor mode, and Emma's heart sank.

"Not since David remembered he's Prince Charming and the other folks who were working there remembered who they were." Emma rose, grabbing her jacket. She turned back, struck by an idea.

"Hey Regina, why don't you take that place over? You love animals, don't you? Horses and all that?"

Regina's heart melted at her insight. "I'm not entirely sure the town would trust me with their beloved creatures. But it's a... pleasant idea, Ms. Swan, and perhaps we can discuss it when you're not quite so busy rescuing Pongo... again."

Emma gave her a small smile, an awkward half-wave, and disappeared. Ruby appeared at Regina's side.

"You know, Madam Mayor, she's never had eyes for anyone else in this town. I'm just sayin'." She cleared her plates with a wink.

Regina gave her an extra large tip.


"Jefferson! Wait up!" Henry called after him.

The man stopped with a groan, but didn't turn around. Henry jogged up behind him.

"Grace tells me you don't want my mom at her party tomorrow night."

"Well now, Henry, though she did whack me over the head with my own telescope, I've agreed to see past that for my dear Grace and - "

"Not Emma. You know which mom I'm talking about." Henry crossed his arms over his chest Emma-style.

Jefferson rolled his eyes and looked away. "Your mother," he bent down, whispering passionately, "is the reason I was without my Grace for twenty-eight years, kid."

Henry shook his head firmly. "The Evil Queen separated you two. But my mom is a different person now. Let her come to the party. You'll see."

Jefferson straightened up and laughed humorlessly, beginning to walk away. "No can do, kid."

"You owe me!" Henry called out evenly. Jefferson froze again, turning slowly on the spot.

"And how do you figure that? Why would I owe you anything?"

"Because if it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten up the courage to find Grace. You would still be scared she hated you, and you never would have been reuinited with her."

Jefferson still looked on the proverbial fence. Henry dropped the cocky confidence and went with emotional earnesty. "You knew her before she did horrible things, Jefferson. You helped create her into what she became. You know who she has the potential to be. Please. I helped you get your family back. All I'm trying to do is bring back mine."

For a moment, Jefferson looked deeply moved. Then his eyes lit up manically.

"You're trying to set up your moms, aren't you, kid?" He read the answer in Henry's face. "Ah HA!" he squealed. "Oh, this will be just delightful! Sure kid, bring both your moms along. The Evil Queen and the Savior. Ah HA!"

He giggled some more, gliding off down the street without saying goodbye to Henry, who shook his head at Jefferson's oddities and skipped back to school.